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Here's how the crowd breaks down for the annual Girls Rock! DC camp showcase at the 9:30 Club:
- Girls, running around, all over, everywhere, anywhere, carrying either Fenders or flowers, occasionally in conga lines
- Proud parents; you know these because they are saying things like, "I am the proud parent of the bass player for Toxic Vomit!" to whoever is potentially listening
- A UN mission's worth of acutely enthusiastic women volunteers, clad primarily in sleeveless tees, marked by adrenaline flush and subtle envy for their younger charges
- Male rock fans wearing stylish biker caps and mustaches
- Suspect characters (difficult to distinguish from the rock fans)
- A brunch-bound crowd of gender-equality enthusiasts, whose interest in the mimosas to follow the show is matched only by their devotion to watching girls kick ass
Everyone knows, though, that this show isn't really about girls or engagement or any of that stuff. It's about rock, and Girls Rock! DC indeed delivered heaping boulders of sound. I was ready to pick up any split 7" featuring Majestix -- who was not just the best band to perform Saturday morning but my favorite new act of 2009. Majestix lets the beat build with two drummers commanding two full drumsets (a favorite setup of mine). Their guitarists draw inspiration from Sleater-Kinney, but they don't shy away from a full crunching wall of noise a la Sabbath. From the start of their audacious one-song set, the twin vocalists seemed like a novelty, an underaged Luscious Jackson. Then, at the song's chorus, Majestix's twin singers dropped a ritornello jam in harmony. My muxtape was blown!
Check out DCist's photos from the event by Nestor Diaz. Meaghan Gay also did some publicity stills. What do you say, Amanda? Sommer? Can we get Majestix for the next Unbuckled?
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I am the proud parent of the guitar player for Majestix! Whoo! Video on the Youtube, of course.
I think this blog post misses the point of what this event was really all about. Those "coolio" volunteers are feminists, teachers, musicians, mothers, and successful women in their own right (not envious of their young charges), offering support and mentorship to these young women. They work at this year round. Then, once a year they get to work with these amazing young people for one week (that's one week) to teach them about what it means to be a strong woman in society, create a band, write a song, and then perform on this stage. ALL OF THOSE GIRLS WERE AWESOME! This wasn't a contest for the best band or the coolest dancing volunteer. It was a celebration of what it is to be a strong young woman accomplishing your goals and not being afraid to show that to the world.
(2 other items of note: Toxic Vomit was not a band. Suggesting that their were "suspect characters" there just sounds awful. They're trying to create a safe space here!)
-a concerned fan of GR!DC
aka, 'how dare you stray from the press release!'
I went to the GR!DC show on Sat. and it was awesome! So much positive energy in the 9:30 Club. I was so impressed that the performers, some of whom were really young, were able to get up in such a well-known venue in front of a lot of fans and rock out! And the fact that most of them had never played an instrument before the camp started and put together their bands and songs in a week is also impressive. The camp focuses on building the girls' confidence so they can rock out in any way they wish in the rest of their life, and it gives volunteers and fans the chance to support them in that. I loved that the volunteers danced on stage with the girls when there wasn't a band up and that there was so much energy in the place--pretty cool that we can moved by these budding rockers.
I thought the show was SO inspiring.
The thing I took away from it most was that it's really EASY for us to pretend to be cool from the sidelines. It must have taken so much courage for those girls to put themselves in all sorts of new situations, and get through their songs on STAGE.
I hope the girls who read this article know that most of the people in the crowd thought that EVERYONE did a fantastic job, and that we all drew inspiration from their courage and honesty and willingness to take those risks.
wow! so unpleasantly surprised by how far off-topic this article went. yes, the showcase is part of GR!DC, but to write about it as though it's some sort of youth talent competition, or opportunity for re-living lost years of glory is a gross misinterpretation of it all.
can i suggest that DCist send someone to camp week next year to actually UNDERSTAND what they're witnessing when the next showcase rolls around?
These pictures are really great!!
I think the volunteers dancing on stage during the DJ sets was more to encourage the girls so they don't feel like they are just on a big empty stage. I guess if the girls preferred to have the stage to themselves the vols would clear out!
I also think it's important to note that all these songs and bands were conjured in one week! I know I've been in bands myself where we couldn't write a song together in three months, so props to all the bands of Girls Rock! DC. :D
Oh, no. DCist, poor form. Don't stoop to this level. This is one of those positive events that's nothing but DC community--this is what you guys do, you catch stuff in DC that happens for those us who live here--this is one of those times to put away the snark and really look at what's happening. That camp and that event is going to be a high point that those girls will always remember, and they had some pretty big balls to get up and do that. The volunteers are all women who perform in their own bands regularly around DC. The only thing I took away from that event was a feeling of pure awesomeness, and I wanted to write a love letter to 930 for donating the space and the staff. I think DCist did miss the point on this one--stray from the press release, but that doesn't mean applying GenX-hipster-cynical-snark to a group of kids and the women who created this event. An hipster-snarky angle is not an original angle--It a play-it-safe-cop-out. If you really had been looking, there's no way you could have missed the energy those girls were putting out--they were happy and jazzed and proud and psyched. The objective of the camp is to give girls the skills to build their confidence through music. This is definitely one of those events when DCist could have taken a step back and seen what was in front of them without the snark glasses. Poor form.
Wait, were you at the same show I was? This was one of the most fun and inspiring events I have been to all year. I think the author might be the one with a bit of envy and mimosas on the mind – not the rest of us. We were there -- fully present -- and with much support for the young women who, for the most part, hugely stepped out of their collective comfort zone. Why IN THE WORLD would the author go out of her way to sarcastically make fun of the girls, their proud parents, and the many volunteers who I guarantee most-definitely changed the course of more than one girl’s life in the span of that week? Great pics, though.